Several political parties announce to run in Khentii poll
GEC TO REVIEW REQUESTS OF POLITICAL PARTIES RUNNING IN OCTOBER POLL
As Section 121.1 of the Law on Elections states that political parties and coalitions have to deliver their requests to run in an election within 60 days before the election date to the General Election Committee (GEC), the deadline for parties to enroll for the October 7 poll in Khentii Province is August 8.
As of August 7, the Mongolian People’s Party, Democratic Party, Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party, Civil-Will and Green Party, National Labor Party, World Mongolians Party, Truths and Rights Party, and Publics Party have made their requests to run in the upcoming poll and submitted the essential documents outlined in the law to the GEC.
According to the Law on Elections, the GEC has to review the documents within five days after receiving documents and requests from parties and coalitions, and the committee announces eligible political parties for the election.
The GEC will announce which political parties will participate in the October 7 poll.
The General Audit Office set the campaign expenses limit for the October 7 poll, and limitation of campaign expenditures of a political party is 102 million MNT and campaign spending limitation of a candidate is 92 million MNT.
DP DISCUSSES KHENTII POLL AND REFORM
The fourth meeting of the Democratic Party’s (DP) National Policy Committee (NPC) took place at the State Palace on August 6 to discuss some issues regarding the Khentii poll and ongoing processes for party reform.
Representatives from the party’s caucuses in Parliament and the City Council of Ulaanbaatar attended the meeting.
NPC members discussed the candidate selection process of the October poll, a report on results from the “Listening to Mongolia” campaign held from May 4 to June 15 across the country, and ratified nominations of the NPC’s new members.
During the meeting, some 10 people, including former lawmaker A.Bakei and Olympic gold medalist N.Tuvshinbayar, became new members of the NPC.
The NPC agreed that the party should nominate a candidate who is known nationwide.
General Secretary of DP Ts.Tuvaan said, “The party will announce its candidate for the October poll from August 31 to September 4 as the nominee needs to fulfill the candidate requirements for legislature and essential requirements outlined in the party’s constitution.”
Chairman of DP S.Erdene said, “Since the party's sixth congress was held in December 2016, the party started a lot of activities and measures for reforming the party, and three different task forces worked on a draft for a new concept of the party for over a year.”
S.Erdene stated that the task forces and NPC members traveled across Mongolia for the past two years to listen to the opinions of DP members on party reform through three nationwide discussions, and the last one was the “Listening to Mongolia” campaign, which took place amongst 74,000 residents in 152 khoroos of Ulaanbaatar’s nine districts and over 330 soums of 21 provinces this summer.
Lawmaker Z.Narantuya noted that the party has been successfully reformed for last two years, all regulations of the party’s internal operations are updating and renewing, and the NPC ratified nearly 10 new regulations with respect to the ongoing party reform, including the party’s candidate selection process for a parliamentary election.
MPP TO ANNOUNCE CANDIDATE ON SEPTEMBER 4
The Mongolian People’s Party held a conference with a 53.5 percent turnout, or 200 members, on August 6 at the party’s headquarters to discuss the Khentii poll.
After the conference, General Secretary of MPP D.Amarbayasgalan said, “According to several surveys conducted by the party for the October poll in Khentii Province, the party has a full possibility to win in Khentii, and the conference approved the rules for nominating a candidate for the upcoming poll.”
The general secretary pointed out that the party will keep conducting surveys on preferences for candidates throughout this month, and after the final review of surveys, the party will announce its candidate on September 4.
D.Amarbayasgalan added that as some people have filed a complaint regarding the poll to the Constitutional Court, and the party is looking into how the court will respond to the complaint, but the party will continue preparing for the October 7 poll until the final decision of the Constitutional Court.
Many hoped that the conference would review the decision from the party’s review committee to hold accountability to party members who were involved in the “60 billion MNT” scandal and violated their ethics, but they did not review this issue as the general secretary has not received and reviewed the decision of the review committee before the August 6 conference.
MPRP INTENDS TO COMPETE AGAINST MPP AND DP
On Monday, representatives from the Mongolian People’s Revolutionary Party (MPRP) held a briefing about the party’s participation in the Khentii poll.
During the briefing, Vice Chairman of MPRP Ts.Oyunbaatar stressed that the party will run in the poll to compete against “MPP+DP Group”, and noted that the party believes that a complaint regarding the poll being reviewed by the Constitutional Court is an attempt to postpone the poll. He stated that Khentii voters’ rights are being violated as they have no representative in Parliament, which is why the October 7 poll should take place on time.
Ts.Oyunbaatar added that local media outlets are reporting that Chairman of MPRP N.Enkhbayar and Vice Chairman of MPRP S.Ganbaatar are the most likely competitors against MPP and DP. He said that after holding a party conference, they will announce the party’s candidate.
...General Secretary of MPP D.Amarbayasgalan said, “According to several surveys conducted by the party for the October poll in Khentii Province, the party has a full possibility to win in Khentii, and the conference approved the rules for nominating a candidate for the upcoming poll...